Activating a smart phone for use over wireless networks typically involves receiving the smart phone that includes a physical subscriber identity module (SIM) card. The SIM card is typically pre-provisioned with information that allows a user of the smart phone to contact a wireless service provider to activate the smart phone. For example, the SIM card includes a profile that can be authenticated with backend servers of the wireless service provider to activate the smart phone.
With the increased use of embedded SIMs (eSIMs) on newer smart phones, also referred to as embedded universal integrated circuit cards (eUICCs), activating a smart phone has become more cumbersome. For example, when a customer receives a new smart phone and wishes to establish a new wireless service with a wireless service provider, no wireless service provider profile is prestored on the eSIM.
For some service providers, to activate a new service for a mobile device with an eSIM, the wireless service provider may require the user to download an application associated with the wireless service provider, followed by using a quick response (QR) code provided at the point-of-sale location where the mobile device was purchased or a QR code provided on a paper included in the packaging with the new mobile device. The user/customer may use the camera function of the mobile device to scan the QR code, followed by a number of additional steps to obtain information based on the QR code and then download a profile to be stored in the eSIM/eUICC. Such steps associated with activating a new service for a new mobile device are often time-consuming and difficult for customers to follow. In addition, the steps described above for activating a new service for a new mobile device are not available for a scenario in which the user is already a customer/subscriber of a wireless service provider and is upgrading his/her mobile device while maintaining the same telephone number for the new device.